UFC

UFC Walkout Gear, Tickets, Betting and History of Ultimate Fighting Championship

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Brief History of the UFC

The UFC, or Ultimate Fighting Championship, is an American based MMA fighting organization. The UFC began in Denver, Colorado in 1993, and was inspired by Brazilian Vale Tudo fighting organization. The UFC is headed by President Dana White and by a company called Zuffa, which is owned by Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta. The UFC started out as a single event tournament aimed at finding the world’s best fighters, regardless of their fighting style and having these fighters compete inside an octogon. In its infant years, the UFC had a very limited number of rules and it was portrayed as a brutal and violent, and the media bashed it for its brutality and no holds barred fighting.

The UFC has transformed and grown into the elite fighting organization in the world and this can be seen by the large number of MMA fighters flocking t the UFC. It is home to a number of the best fighters in the world such as Georges St. Pierre, Anderson Silva, B.J. Penn, Brock Lesnar, and a number of other MMA superstars. It has also retired MMA fighters like Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Ken Shamrock, and Royce Gracie who have all played a major role in bringing the UFC into mainstream media and making it a very lucrative business. These names are clear and away the most popular in the history of MMA and were all a part of the UFC movement.

When the UFC was formed in the mid 90’s it was marketed as “human cockfighting” and “fights to the death” with an emphasis on violence. As pressure mounted by the media and political figures, the UFC had to find ways to reform itself if it wanted to become a legitimate sport. The UFC slowly started to implement stricter rules, less brutality, and was sanctioned under State Athletic Commissions. It slowly started to divert its image away from that of a brutal, violent fight ring and marketed itself to the public as a legitimate sporting event. It slowly but surely emerged as a socially accepted sport and regained its position in the media spot light.

It was the true test to determine which form of fighting / martial arts form was best. Royce Gracie quickly showed that Gracie Jiu-Jitsu was the dominant form. Mostly because Royce was good and tough as nails, but the other fighters hadn’t seen it before and just didn’t know how to counter it. Today though, Mixed Martial Arts, lead by the UFC is a tactical sport, like chess on a mat. And if you’re just a jiu-jitsu master these days, you may not last too long.

UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter

When the UFC started to tank and realized that it needed something new to draw viewers to the sport, the Fertitta brothers decided that a reality TV show could be quite successful. Their vision was the Ultimate Fighter, a reality show where aspiring MMA fighters were given the opportunity to compete against one another for a UFC contract that was awarded to the winner of the season. At first, it was a bust, as most television networks rejected the idea.

The Ultimate Fighter is a reality TV show where prospective UFC fighters were selected for two different weight divisions, and the fighters are then split into two different teams that are coached by current UFC stars. Each episode featured daily preparations by the contestants and training sessions in the gym. The end of the episode saw two fighters from opposite teams face off in a fight to stay on the show.

The Ultimate Fighter wasn’t successful until they approached Spike TV with the their reality show and offered to pay $10 million in production costs and eventually convinced Spike TV to broadcast the Ultimate Fighter. So the first season of the Ultimate Fighter was set to air and quickly gained popularity with viewers. The Ultimate Fighter Season 1 was capped off with a brilliant season finale, where Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar squared off in the Octagon for a six figure contract with the UFC. The finale was a huge success, and the fight was awesome, as both fighters bloodied and beat the crap out of the other. Griffin won the match in close split decision but Dana White and the UFC were so impressed with both fighters that they both were offered contracts with the UFC.

The Ultimate Fighter 2 season took place a little while later in August of 2005, and two more season took place in 2006. The show has grown more popular with each season and has consequently boosted the popularity of the UFC as well. There have been 9 completed seasons up to this point, and a number of past TUF winners have gone on to have very successful careers in the UFC. Fighters such as Matt Serra, Rashad Evans, and Forrest Griffin have actually won UFC championship titles for their respective weight classes.

The Ultimate Fighter is currently airing the tenth season, which features 16 Heavyweight contestants. The Ultimate Fighter 10 is expected to be the most popular season in terms of viewers, and has a really strong line up. The shows number one contender is the internet celebrity, street fighter Kimbo Slice.

After realizing that the Ultimate Fighter was a huge success and saved the UFC from tanking, Dana White looked for other ways to expand the UFC. White and Spike TV decided on a deal that would create the TV show UFC Unleashed, which is an hour long show that aired select fights from old events on a weekly basis. Spike and the UFC also agreed to broadcast live UFC fights in a series entitled UFC Fight Night. The Fight Night aired a series of live fight events that promoted upcoming Pay-Per-View fights. The UFC Fight Night was another huge success and has aired 19 UFC events since its debut. The most recent fight night was UFC Fight Night 19, and aired on Wednesday, September 16, 2009.

MMA Stars in the UFC

The UFC has a rich history of having the very best MMA fighters in the world competing in their organization. In the early years of UFC, the best in the world such as the great Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, and Dan Severn fought in UFC tournaments and events. UFC 1 was the very first UFC event in history, and Royce Gracie won the eight man mini tournament beating beating Art Jimmerman, Ken Shamrock, and Gegard Gordeau all by submission. Gracie repeated as champion at UFC 2 and made history for the rest of his career.

These great MMA fighters were followed by another class of the worlds best fighters competing in the UFC. Fighters such as Bas Rutten, Wanderlei Silva, Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, and many others fought in the UFC circuit and helped the UFC gain acceptance and popularity among the youth of America.

Today, the UFC is bigger than ever and is still growing as an organization. The sport has more competitors than ever before and many new MMA fighters have risen to the spotlight. The new breed of fighters are better than ever before and have mastered a number of different fighting styles. MMA fighters such as current UFC champions B.J. Penn, Georges St. Pierre, Anderson Silva, and Lyoto Machida have mastered all aspects of the sport and are the clear and away top fighters in the world. And oh yeah, they all fight in the UFC, proving the prominence of the Ultimate Fighting Championships.

UFC Events

The UFC has been putting on live Pay-Per-View fighting events since 1993 and there have been over 100 of these big UFC events. Like I mentioned earlier, the earlier events, like UFC 1 were set up as an eight man mini tournament with no weight classes and limited rules.Royce Gracie won the first two UFC events by defeating opponents much larger than him.

Nowadays, the UFC events have no tournaments, have different weight classes, and have a set of rules that makes for a much better UFC event. Each UFC event typically has at least 1 fight per weight class, and typically will have the main event be a title fight for one of the weight classes.

The most recent UFC pay-per-view event was UFC 102, where the legend Randy Couture was defeated via unanimous decision to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. UFC 102 was also highlighted by to very entertaining knock out wins by Nathan Marquardt and Thiago Silva. UFC 103 is the next scheduled UFC pay-per-view event and has a stacked line up. Rich Franklin looks to spoil Vitor Belfort’s return to the UFC in the main event. UFC 103 should be a very entertaining night of fights that is scheduled to take place this Saturday, September 19 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.

UFC Recent News

UFC 104 Preview

10/19/09 – UFC 104 brings an electrifying line up to the octogon on Saturday, October 24 at the Mandalay Bay Center in Los Angeles, California. In the main event bout of the night, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua will challenge the undefeated Lyoto ‘The Dragon’ Machida in a Light Heavyweight championship bout. Lyoto Machida looks to successfully defend his title for the first time in what is sure to be a an entertaining fight. Undefeated Cain Velasquez will square off with IFL veteran Ben Rothwell in the featured Heavyweight match up. Other featured matchups include: Joe Stevenson Vs. Spencer Fisher and Gleison Tibau Vs. Josh Neer. Find UFC 104 Walkout Shirts.

UFC 103 Preview

9/14/09 – UFC 103 takes place live on Pay Per View this Saturday night September 19 from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The line up for UFC 103 is absolutely stacked, where Vitor Belfort will square off with Rich Franklin in the main event of the night. Mirko Cro Cop looks to finish the young, and dangerous striker Junior Dos Santos in what should be a slug fest. Martin Kampmann looks to solidify his argument for top contender to Georges St. Pierre and his Welterweight title. UFC 103 – Preview

UFC Fight Night 19 & Ultimate Fighter 10

9/13/09 – UFC Fight Night 19 has one of the most electrifying fight cards that features Nate Diaz and Melvin Guillard in the main event bout. Roger Huerta looks to make a statement in his return to the ring as he takes on the up and coming undefeated Gray Maynard in what should be a great lightweight match up. UFC Fight Night 19 airs live and for free on Spike TV, and is a lead in to the premier of the Ultimate Fighter 10 season where Kimbo Slice will make his debut with the Ultimate Fighting Championship against a house full of TUF heavyweights. UFC Fight Night 19 – Preview

UFC 103: A Night For Knockouts

9/22/09- UFC 103 was highlighted by a number of knock out victories as almost every fight on the main card ended in a knock out stoppage. UFC 103 was packed with big name fighters and was a very entertaining night of knockouts. The main event saw Vitor Belfort pitted against Rich Franklin. Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort made quick work of former middleweight world champ Rich Franklin in his return to the octagon since 2005. Fellow Brazilian Junior Dos Santos made his presence in the UFC Heavyweight division well known after he defeated MMA legend Mirko Cro Cop by TKO stoppage in the third round. Josh Koscheck faced Frank Trigg and spoiled his return to the UFC, as he beat up the UFC veteran early in the first round. For more results and news from the UFC 103 event, read the UFC 103 Results now.

UFC Fight Night 19 and UFC 102: New Walk-Out T-Shirts

UFC-102-Minotauro 9/21/09 – We have found the latest fighter walk out t-shirts from UFC Fight Night 19 and UFC 102 worn by the biggest MMA fighters in the sport. UFC Fight Night 19 and UFC 102 were both packed with some of the best MMA fighters in the UFC today. We have UFC walk out t-shirts from Roger Huerta, Nate Marquardt, Randy Couture, Antonio Minotauro Nogueira, Thiago Silva, and many more! Check our collection from both the UFC Fight Night 19, and UFC 102. Shop New UFC Walk-Out T-Shirts.

New Walk-Out T-Shirts: UFC Fight Night 19 and UFC 102

1 Comment

Full Tilt Poker Sponsorship | Kick Ass MMA Directory on October 14, 2009 at 8:54 pm

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